Vol. 25, No. 2 
Page 4 
about 20 deer and lie in the Sangamon River drainage. The Penfield area is in 
the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River drainage and held about 40 deer. There 
were about 20 deer in each of the 2 areas near Homer in the drainage of the Salt 
Fork of the Vermilion River. 
In future field work we hope to define the size of the concentration areas 
and identify the features of the habitat that attract deer. Aerial surveys of 
other counties are planned. 
Cooperative Waterfowl Research - W-88-R F.C. Bell rose, S.P. Havera, 
- c G.A. Perkins, H.K. Archer 
Each year state and federal biologists and qualified volunteers across the 
nation conduct the Winter Waterfowl and Eagle Survey by land, water, and air. 
This cooperative nationwide survey begins the 1st Monday of the year and is 
completed when local weather conditions permit during the following 4 days. This 
census serves as a rough index to yearly changes in the populations of ducks, 
geese, swans, coots, and bald eagles and also delineates their winter distribution. 
In Illinois, Robert Crompton of the Havana Laboratory participated during 
January in the Winter Waterfowl and Eagle Survey by aerially censusing the 
Illinois and Mississippi river valleys and various selected reservoirs and 
cooling lakes throughout the state. Illinois winter censuses vary substantially 
from year to year because of weather; therefore, we have compared the 1982 
totals with 1977-81 5-year averages for evaluation. 
Ducks surveyed in the Illinois River valley in winter 1982 totaled 108,000, 
a decrease of 332 from the 5-year average. In the Mississippi River valley there 
were an estimated 130,000 ducks, a 42 decrease from the 5-year average. Censuses 
of reservoirs and cooling lakes across the state revealed a 292 increase in birds 
in northeastern Illinois and an 882 decrease in the central and southern part of 
the state. The total number of ducks in the Illinois winter survey decreased 292 
in 1982 from the 1977-81 average, a reduction that was expected because of the 
low totals for fall 1981. 
Eighty-five hundred Canada geese, 1,500 of which were the giant race, were 
observed on the Illinois River valley in the winter survey as compared to 16,500 
on the Mississippi River. These totals represented a 952 increase and a 62 
decrease respectively, from the 5”y aar averages. Canada goose numbers were up 
dramatically on the cooling lakes and reservoirs outside the quota zone in central 
and southern Illinois (65,000 in 1980 to 126,600 in 1981) and increased 712 
statewide over the 1977-81 average. Few snow geese were censused in the 1977-81 
winter surveys, but 6,500 were observed in the St. Louis area of the Mississippi 
River during the 1982 inventory. Insignificant numbers of coots winter in Illinois. 
The 175 bald eagles counted in the Illinois River valley during the 1982 
winter survey represented a 242 decrease from the 1977—81 average. In the 
Mississippi River valley, bald eagle numbers were up 112 to 420 over the 5-y® ar 
